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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

FRANKLIN K. LANE. SECRETARY 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

STEPHEN T. MATHER. DIRECTOR 



THE TEHIPITE VALLEY AND 
THE KINGS RIVER CANYON 

(The Greater Sequoia) 



ADDRESS : : By ROBERT STERLING YARD 

OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

DELIVERED AT THE NATIONAL PARKS CONFERENCE AT 
WASHINGTON. D. C, JANUARY 6. 1917 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFHCE 

1917 






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THE TEHIPITE VALLEY AND THE KINGS RIVER 
CANYON, GREATER SEQUOIA. 

By Robert Sterling Yard. 

When I began to study our national parks in preparation for the 
great Avork we had undertaken, the glories of the Sierra stood out 
before my mental vision perhaps in more stupendous relief than any 
other feature. At this time I was drawing my knowledge from books 
and men; as yet I had visited no national parks; and the men were 
enthusiasts. 

Almost from the first I learned of the great country between 
Yosemite and Sequoia, which ought to be a national park some day. 
In fact that is what I called it, the Ought-to-be-Sequoia, before the 
name Greater Sequoia was devised. Before I knew anything definite 
about any other valley in our national parks besides the Yosemite 
Valley, I was familiar with the fact that the Kings Kiver Canyon and 
the Tehipite Valley were, next to Yosemite, the grandest valleys on 
this continent. My teacher was Kobert Bradford Marshall, Chief 
Geographer of the United States Geological Survey, and chief lover 
of national parks. His splendid enthusiasm kin-died the fires in me. 

Few whom I had then met had yet seen these valleys, and few I 
have met since have seen them. They are almost unknown to-day 
outside of California, and little known there. Not even Muir, so 
far as I know, described them, though I have found various refer- 
ences to both in his writings. Yet they are destined to become cele- 
brated next to Yosemite's incomparable valley. I expect to see the 
day when the three shall inevitably be mentioned together. 

Both originate in the everlasting snows of the Sierra summits. 
The Middle Fork and the South Fork of the Kings River, respec- 
tively, have carved them from the living granite. Each lies east and / 
west, a short day's journey, as the trail winds, apart. It was my great / 
fortune to see both last summer, and I can best picture them by read- 
ing brief extracts from a record of that trip. (Reads:) 

Time will not dim our memory of Tehipite or the august valley or 
the leaping, singing river as we saw them on that charmed day. 
Well short of Yosemite in the kind of beauty that startles and be- 
wilders, the Tehipite Valley nevertheless far excels it in bigness and 
power and majesty. 

Lookout Point, a couple of miles south, afforded our first sensation. 
Here the rising trail emerged upon a broken mass of rock standing 

22324—17 • 3 



4 TEHIPITE VALLEY AND KINGS KIVER CANYON. 

well out over the head of the canyon and 3,000 feet above it, disclos- 
ing Tehipite Dome in full relief. It is one of the great views, in 
fact it is one of the very greatest of all our views, and by far the 
grandest valley view I have looked upon, for the rim view into 
Yosemite by comparison is not so grand as it is beautiful. 

The canyon revealed itself to the east as far as Mount Woodworth, 
its lofty diversified walls lifting percipitously from the heavy forests 
of the floor and sides, and, from our high view point, yielding to still 
greater heights above. Enormous cliffs abutted, Yosemitelike, at 
intervals. South of us, directly across the canyon, rose the strenuous 
heights of the Monarch Divide, Mount. Harrington towering 1,000 
feet higher above the valley floor than Clouds Eest above the 
Yosemite. 

Down the slopes of the Monarch Divide, seemingly from its tur- 
reted summits, cascaded many frothing streams. Happy Gap, the 
Eagle Peaks, Blue Canyon Falls, Silver Spur, the Gorge of Despair, 
Lost Canyon — these were some of the romantic and appropriate 
titles we found on the Geological Survey map. 

And, close at hand, opposite Mount Harrington and just across 
Crown Creek Canyon, rose mighty Tehipite. We looked down upon 
its rounded glistening dome. The Tehipite Dome is a true Yosemite 
feature. It compares in height and prominence with El Capitan. 
In fact, it stands higher above the valley floor and occupies a similar 
position at the valley's western gate. It is not so massive as El Capi- 
tan and, therefore, not so impressive: but it is superb. It is better 
compared with Half Dome, though again not so impressive. But 
it has its own august personality, as notably so as either of these 
world-famed rocks; and, if it stood in the Yosemite, would share 
with them the incomparable valley's highest honors. 

From the floor, the whole aspect of the valley changed. Looking 
up, Tehipite Dome, now outlined against the sky, and the neighbor- 
ing abrupt castellated walls, towered more hugely than ever. We 
did not need the map to know that some of these heights exceeded 
Yosemite's. The skyline was fantastically carved into spires and 
domes, a counterpart in gigantic miniature of the Great Sierra of 
which it was the valley climax. The Yosemite measure of sublimity, 
perhaps, lacked, but in its place was a more rugged grandeur, a 
certain suggestion of vastness and power that I have not seen 
elsewhere. 

This impression was strengthened by the floor itself, which con- 
tains no suggestion whatever of Yosemite's exquisiteness. Instead, 
it offers rugged spaciousness. In place of Yosemite's peaceful woods 
and meadows, here Avere tangled giant-studded thickets and moun- 
tainous masses of enormous broken talus. Instead of the quiet wind- 
ing Merced, here Avas a surging, smashing, frothing, cascading, roar- 



TEHIPITE VALLEY AND KINGS RIVER CANYON. 5 

ing torrent, several times its volume, which filled the valley with its 
turbulence. 

Once step foot on the valley floor and all thought of comparison 
with Yosemite vanishes forever. This is a different thing altogether, 
but a thing in its own way no less superlative in its distinction. The 
keynote of the Tehipite Valley is wild exuberance. It thrills where 
Yosemite enervates. Yet its temperature is quite as mild. 

The Kings contains more trout than any other stream I have 
fished. We found them in pools and riffles everywhere; no water 
was too white to get a rise. In the long greenish-white borders of 
fast rapids they floated continually into view. In five minutes watch- 
ing I could count a dozen or more such appearances within a few 
feet of water. They ran from 8 to 14 inches. No doubt larger ones 
lay below. 

So I got great fun out of picking my particular trout and casting 
specially for him. Stop your fly's motion and the pursuing fish 
instantly stops, backs, swims round the lure in a tour of examination 
and disappears. Start it moving and he instantly reappears from 
the white depth where no doubt he has been cautiously watching. A 
pause and a swift start often tempted to a strike. 

These rainbows of the torrents are hard fighters. And many of 
them, if ungently handled, availed of swift currents to thresh them- 
selves free. 

You must fish a river to appreciate it. Standing on its edges, 
leaping from rock to rock, slipping thigh deep at times, wading 
recklessly to reach some pool or eddy of special promise, searching 
the rapids, peering under the alders, testing the pools; that's the 
way to make friends with a river. You study its moods and its 
ways as those of a mettlesome horse. 

And after a while its spirit seeps through and finds your soul. 
Its personality unveils. A sweet friendliness unites you, a sense of 
mutual understanding. There follows the completest detachment 
that I know. Years and the worries disappear. You and the river 
dream away the unnoted hours. 

The approach to Granite Pass en route from the Tehipite Valley 
to the Kings River Canyon was nothing short of magnificent. We 
entered a superb cirque studded with lakelets. It was a noble set- 
ting. We could see the pass ahead of us on a fine snow-crowned 
bench. We ascended the bench and found ourselves, not in the 
pass, but in the entrance to another cirque, also lake-studded, a 
loftier, nobler cirque encircling the one below. 

But surely we were there. Those inspiring snow-daubed heights 
whose sharply serrated edges cut sharply into the sky certainly 
marked the supreme summit. Our winding trail up sharp rocky 



6 TEHIPITE VALLEY AND KINGS RIVER CANYON. 

ascents pointed sti'aight to the shelf which must be our pass. An 
hour's toil would carry us over. 

The hour passed and the crossing of the shelf disclosed, not the 
glowing valley of the South Fork across the pass, but still a vaster, 
nobler cirque, sublime in Arctic ghny ! 

How the vast glaciers that cut these titanic carvings must have 
swirled among these huge concentric walls, pouring over this shelf 
and that, piling together around these uplifting granite peaks, con- 
centrating combined effort upon this unyielding mass and that, and, 
beaten back, pouring down the tortuous main channel with rendings 
and tearings unimaginable ! 

Granite Pass is astonishing! We saw no less than four of these 
vast concentric cirques, through three of which we passed. And 
the Geological Survey map discloses a tributary basin to the east 
inclosing a group of large volcanic lakes and doubtless other vast 
cirque-like chambers. 

We took photographs, but knew them vain, 

A long, dusty descent of Copper Creek, which MrCormick cor- 
rectly diagnosed as something fierce, brought us, near day's end, into 
the exquisite valley of the South Fork of the Kings River — the 
Kings River Canyon. 

Still another Yosemite ! 

It is not so easy to differentiate the two canyons of the Kings. 
They are similar and yet very different. Perhaps the difference lies 
chiefl}^ in degree. Both lie east and west, with enormous rocky bluffs 
rising on either side of rivers of quite extraordinary beauty. Both 
present carved and castellated walls of exceptional boldness of de- 
sign. Both are heavily and magnificently wooded, the forests reach- 
ing up sharp slopes on either side. Both possess to a marked degree 
the quality that lifts them above the average of even the Sierra's 
glacial valleys. 

But the outlines here seem to be softer, the valley floor broader, the 
river less turbulent. If the keynote of the Tehipite Valley is wild 
exuberance, that of the Kings River Canyon is wild beauty. The one 
excites, the other lulls. The one shares with Yosemite the distinction 
of extraordinary outline, the other shares with Yosemite the distinc- 
tion of extraordinary charm. 

The greater of these two canyons is destined to become famous 
under the name of its part, the Tehipite Valley ; the lesser Avill have 
the undivided posession of the title Kings Canyon. Tehipite is as 
distinctive and unusual a name as Yosemite. But the Middle Fork 
of the Kings is by far a greater stream from every point of view than 
the beautiful South Fork. 



TEHIPITE VALLEY AND KINGS RIVER CANYON. 7 

Looking ahead, this canyon of the South P'ork seems destined to the 
quicker and the greater development. It is broader, flatter, and more 
livable. It lends itself to hostelries, of which two already exist. It 
is more easily reached and already has some patronage. Moreover, 
from its name and position, it is the natural recipient of whatever 
publicity grows out of both. Tehipite has to build from the 
ground up. 

There are few nobler spots than the junction of Copper Creek with 
the Kings. The Grand Sentinel is seldom surpassed. It fails of the 
personality of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Tehipite, but it only just 
fails. If they did not exist, it would become the most celebrated rock 
in the Sierra, at least. The view up the canyon from this spot has 
few equals. The view down the canyon is not often excelled. When 
the day of the Kings River Canyon dawns, it will dawn brilliantly. 

We loped and ambled and galloped down this gorgeous valley, 
filled to the brim with the joy of its broad forested flats and its soft 
invigorating air. 

The walls were glorious. Those in shadow were clothed in purple, 
streaked and blotched with yellows and many dark ochers. Large 
areas were frosted with grays of many shades, some on abutting cliffs 
shining like silver. The walls in sunlight showed interesting differ- 
ences. The purples of the shaded side now became dark grays; the 
light grays, white. The yellows faded or acquired greenish tints. 
Here and there in broad sunlight appeared splotches of vivid green, 
probably stains of copper salts. 

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